About the Possessions in Basketball

There are many factors to analyze a possession, or rather, how to categorize a possession in basketball.The first thing to take in mind is the time of completion (when did it finish) and if it was successful or not. Remember, a possession ends after a ??field goal made, after a fault or after
a field goal attempt, regardless of who got the rebound.

In the case that it wasn't successful, we must see if the failed possession results in another possession for the same team. There are statisticians who consider that a continuation of possession (for example, after a missed field goal that hits the rim and a member of the attacking team gets the offensive rebound) are in fact two consecutive possessions, the first
of which did not materialize.

We have other considerations:

1) If the final possession occurs before the 8, 16 or 24 seconds (it means, to divide the possession in thirds. If NCAA, before 12, 24 or 35 seconds);

2) Whether it was the product of a static attack, a transition or a counter-attack. To be considered as a static attack, the ten players on the court must be all in the same half;

3) Where it ended. We can divide the field into sections, but if we don't have a shooting chart, it would be more appropriate to consider four categories:

- In the vicinity of the rim. This includes lay-ups, dunks, or any proximity field goal action inside the no-charge semicircle;

- Two-point shots: if the shot was from inside or outside the paint zone. If it was outside, broadly to the right or left of it viewed from the side of the attacking team (the bowl should be considered);

- Three-point shots, from five locations (in the corners, in the lane or in diagonal to it);

- Any fault action (with or without free throws).

If we can speak about points per 100 possessions and successful possessions percentage, we can also take the percentage of possessions that fit into either category mentioned above. However, we must take into account the amount of possessions for each team in a game (it's not the same 16 field goals in the paint on 40 possessions rather than of 37). In that sense, the
game pace has a fundamental role.
Matias Barmat (@worldhoopstats)